


better lat(t)e than never

by ShitabuKenjirou



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, First Meetings, Fluff and Humor, M/M, this deserves a sequel ngl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:40:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25449994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShitabuKenjirou/pseuds/ShitabuKenjirou
Summary: What Tsutomu expected was a long, boring evening of studying, with Shirabu snapping at him whenever he got distracted. When he followed Shirabu into the coffee shop he liked to study at, he realized that wasn't what he would get.
Relationships: Goshiki Tsutomu/Yamagata Hayato
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	better lat(t)e than never

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> this is the dumbest fucking title i've ever come up with and it only vaguely relates to the plot of this thing oh my god
> 
> anyway!! my dear friend Kaashi requested GoshiGata, so here it is!!! I really hope I wrote their dynamic the way you like it!! <33

Despite being a fair bit shorter than him, Shirabu walked with such purpose that Tsutomu could barely keep up. It probably had something to do with the rain, or the cold, or the deadline that was looming over his head, or the fact that coffee was his life source more than air was. As far as Tsutomu was concerned, it was probably all of them.

Shirabu was a second year med student, which meant he lived in a whole different world than Tsutomu, who was a first year riding a sports scholarship with a minor in geology on the side. They shared a dorm room out of pure coincidence, in a special student building affiliated with multiple campuses in Tokyo, but Shirabu pretty much only used it to crash at three in the morning and store his collection of various nutrition bars. 

When Tsutomu had asked him for help on how to study, since he had never been particularly good at sitting still for a set amount of time, Shirabu had, just  _ slightly  _ reluctantly, offered to take him to his favourite studying spot.

They turned the corner of the block, and the coffee shop Shirabu had described to him came into view. Tsutomu got a quick glimpse of the cozy interior through the wood-framed windows as they brushed by, and then Shirabu pushed open the door and sighed audibly at the wave of warm, dry air that came to meet them.

“So this is where you go to avoid me?” Tsutomu remarked curiously. 

“I don’t avoid  _ you _ ,” Shirabu shot back. He ran a hand through his bangs to un-stick them from his forehead. “Just that loud, miserable excuse of a dorm room.”

Tsutomu let out a doubtful hum, his eyes exploring the plush-looking booths and the stylish walls filled with picture frames and posters. Soft rock music was playing in the background, accompanying the gentle chatter of the handful of patrons spread across the warm, welcoming room. Tsutomu could definitely see why Shirabu worked here almost every day -- it was almost the direct opposite of the crowded dorm floors with paper walls, through which you could hear every cough or whisper. Tsutomu didn’t mind those things at all, but to each their own, he supposed.

“Kenjirou-kun!” a voice popped up from behind the counter. “Eight o’clock on the dot. Do you do that on purpose?"

“Every minute counts in my day,” Shirabu responded. Tsutomu turned to watch him stride towards an empty booth in a quiet corner, next to a big window muddled by the rain.

“Right, right,” the voice continued. Tsutomu discovered it was attached to a young man wiping down a coffee machine. “The usual?”

“Please. Goshiki, go pick something, I’ll treat you.” Shirabu sat down in the booth, shrugging off his jacket and dumping it next to him.

Tsutomu walked up to the counter, his attention jumping back and forth between two dozen different drinks and just as many kinds of sweet treats. He hit the edge of the dark wooden countertop before he knew it, and he awkwardly stepped back, meeting the gaze of the barista.

That was the first mistake he made.

Any remnant of a train of thought he previously had disappeared into the guy’s warm brown eyes. His slicked back undercut and the piercing in his eyebrow gave him an edgy, almost intimidating look, but that was completely negated by his radiant smile. He flicked the dishrag he’d been holding over his shoulder, leaving it hanging over his deep purple work apron and matching purple shirt.

“So, what’ll it be?” he asked.

Tsutomu blinked. “Uh…” He’d completely forgotten what was on the menu. He didn’t want to spend another minute just staring at the chalkboard -- that’d be rude, and also awkward. Wait, Shirabu was paying, so he shouldn’t pick anything too expensive. Darn it, Tsutomu didn’t even like coffee. Did they have hot chocolate? Please let them have--

“I could recommend you something, if you’d like,” the barista offered. “I’m assuming you don’t need it to-go?”

“Uh, no. Um,” Tsutomu stammered. Where had his voice gone? “I’m with-- I’m here with, uh--” He pointed weakly to the direction Shirabu had gone.

“Of course, I get it.” Not letting go of Tsutomu’s gaze, he bent down slightly, grabbing two glass mugs from somewhere beneath the counter. “Tell you what: I’ll make you something I think you’ll like and bring it over there, and if you don’t like it, I’ll give you a chocolate chip cookie on the house. That sound good?”

Finding himself at a complete loss for words once again, Tsutomu just settled on nodding furiously for way longer than necessary. 

“Alrighty then, I’ll be with you in just a moment.” With that, the guy turned away, and, finally liberated from the void in those beautiful eyes, Tsutomu released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and shuffled towards the booth Shirabu had occupied. 

By the time he sat down, Shirabu’s textbooks already occupied the majority of the tabletop, with Shirabu himself pouring over the pages. Tsutomu reached into the backpack he’d carried with him, trying to calm his racing heart.

“So what’d you get?” Shirabu asked him, keeping his eyes on his study material. 

“I, uh, don’t know,” Tsutomu responded. He quickly glanced to the counter, and caught a glimpse of the barista preparing their beverages. “He’s making something for me he thinks I will like.”

“And he’ll give you a free treat if you don’t?”

For a moment, Tsutomu feared Shirabu could read minds. “Y-yeah, how’d you know?”

“That’s just a  _ thing _ Hayato does.” Shirabu grabbed a pencil and tapped it on his cheek a few times before he scribbled something down in the margins of one of his books. “He’s so fucking confident in his people skills that he thinks he knows what people like before they order. Joke’s on him though -- first time I came here he made me something super sweet, so I got a free brownie out of that.”

Tsutomu’s mind was being tugged at from all sides now. First off…  _ Hayato _ . That was a nice name. How’d Shirabu know it, though? Tsutomu hadn’t seen a name tag on the barista, but maybe he’d been too occupied to spot it. And what did he mean by that emphasis on ‘thing’…?

“Alrighty,” a voice announced, dragging out the first syllable, and then the barista --  _ Hayato _ \-- was beside him, lifting two full mugs from the tray he carried, one by one, and setting them down before him and Shirabu.

“Caramel latte,” Hayato announced to Tsutomu. “Hope you’ll like it.”

“Thanks,” Tsutomu said, and only realized when Hayato didn’t move that he wanted to see Tsutomu’s reaction. So he took the mug, eyed the creamy brown liquid inside it, and took a sip.

The drink that touched his taste buds barely even tasted like coffee. It was gentle and creamy and sweet, but not too sweet. It was perfect. If Tsutomu could have this every day for the rest of his life, he wouldn’t mind turning into a coffee addict like Shirabu was. 

Something bold and cheeky stirred inside his chest, and he decided, to make up for his terrible first impression, to grimace at the drink, to set it back down on the table and push it back to Hayato’s direction.

“No, nope, don’t like that,” he forced out, trying his best not to smile. He stared pointedly at a spot on the table, fearing that meeting Hayato’s gaze would give him away. “Sorry.”

“Aw, fucknuts,” Hayato said, slapping his thigh in frustration. “And here I thought I’d figured you out. Does hot chocolate sound better, then?”

“Yes,” Tsutomu blurted out. “I mean. Please.”

“Well then, I’ll be right back.” Hayato grabbed Tsutomu’s latte and brought it back to the counter with him. Tsutomu silently mourned the drink as he watched it disappear. 

“You’re a terrible liar,” Shirabu commented in between gulps of hot, black coffee. How the heck didn’t he burn his tongue?

Tsutomu scoffed, caught off guard. “I wasn’t lying.”

“Sure, whatever.”

Tsutomu glanced to the counter again, and, making sure Hayato was still busy, quickly pulled out his phone and googled  _ how do i know if my roommate is a mindreader _ . 

Hayato was back at his side before he could find any helpful results. “One hot chocolate,” he said, setting it down before Tsutomu. A plate with a chocolate chip cookie in a paper wrapping followed. “And one cookie,” he added, in a tone Tsutomu couldn’t quite decipher.

“Another coffee, please, Hayato,” Shirabu piped up, furiously writing things down in a notebook. 

“Wow, you inhaled that in, like, three seconds,” Hayato laughed.

“Shouldn’t surprise you by now.”

“It isn’t, it isn’t.” Hayato grabbed Shirabu’s empty mug. “Just wondering if I should be concerned.”

“Think again when I actually stop coming here.”

Hayato laughed again. Tsutomu’s attention was caught between the lovely sound of Hayato’s joy, and the amused smile Shirabu wore as he bantered with him. 

“So, you brought a study buddy today, huh?” Hayato remarked curiously, eyeing Tsutomu. “You should bring him more often. He’s fun.”

Tsutomu turned his head away to hide his blush.

“I will, if he actually puts his head down and tries to get work done here,” Shirabu said pointedly. 

Tsutomu looked at his book, still unopened. Pressing his lips together, he pulled it towards him and leafed through it in search of where he’d left off. He wrapped his hands around his steaming mug and pretended to read the text in front of him.

Hayato chuckled. “Well, I’ll leave you two to it, then. Give a shout if you need me.”

Tsutomu waited for Hayato to leave before he reached for his cookie. When he lifted it to take off the wrapping, he noticed something scribbled hastily on the paper covering the bottom side of the cookie.

_ You’re cute. Text me. - Yamagata Hayato _

Underneath the message was a phone number, the numbers getting smaller and leaner as they neared the edge of the wrapping.

Tsutomu’s heart pounded so loudly he stopped hearing the background music.

His eyes found their way to the counter again, and he discovered Hayato smiling at him as he dried off a cup with a dishtowel. When Tsutomu kept looking, Hayato winked.

Tsutomu was sure both his cheeks and his chest burned hotter than the beverage he held.

**Author's Note:**

> Cue Shirabu finding himself a different place to study at because he did NOT sign up to be the third wheel to an unlikely budding relationship, no sir
> 
> Thank you for reading & find me @shitabukenjirou on tumblr or @nox_et_stellae on twitter!!


End file.
